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A person in Nevada has tested presumptively positive for the novel coronavirus, marking the first case of the virus in the state.
The Southern Nevada Health District announced the case in a Thursday news release. The patient, a male in his 50s who lives in Clark County, is hospitalized and currently in “airborne isolation,” officials said. A sample has since been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for confirmation.
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“The patient reported a recent travel history to Washington state, where community spread of the virus is being reported, and Texas, which recently reported its first travel-associated case,” health officials said, noting they are working to identify any close contacts of the man who may have been exposed.
Washington state, specifically, is at the center of a deadly outbreak of the novel virus, or COVID-19.
The majority of the coronavirus-related fatalities in the U.S. — at least 11 deaths as of this writing — have occurred in Washington state. Many of the cases there involve patients who are residents of the Life Care Center in Kirkland, where there is currently an outbreak.
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Additionally, at least 27 firefighters and two police officers are quarantined – some of whom are showing possible COVID-19 symptoms – after responding to reports of patients falling ill at the nursing home.
This is at least the second case in the U.S. that has ties to Washington state. North Carolina on Tuesday announced its first case has ties to the Life Care Center in Kirkland.
Fox News' Alexandria Hein contributed to this report.
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